Those First Day Jitters (H.I.V.E.)

Kassandra popped her bubble gum, as she walked through the secret layer. Well actually, more like secret campus. It was a school for the wicked, dastardly, and low-down. The perfect place for anyone who didn't wanna play by the rules of society to lay-low and possibly get some knowledge on the side. Kassandra was all for it - sign her up, in fact she already signed up. There was a secret badge thingy they were all given with their identity and codename on it. She had chosen Superstar as hers for now...simply because she didn't have anything better on the spot.




This was unexpected to say the least. Kassie had flown to Jump City in uniform and the giant red S symbol had kinda tipped off everyone who saw her as to who she was. Originally she had stumbled upon a jewelry store robbery that was at a stand-off with the robbers barricaded in and the cops just outside the exit. The police involved rejoiced at the fact that Supergirl had arrived but were shocked when moments later they were tossed away from the building and the robbers all escaped. Meanwhile Kassie picked what she liked from the jewelry that was left over and flew off. She thought she had flown far enough to escape any one who would be after her but was approached by a tall thin black male the moment she had stopped to try on her new fashion accessories.

Spoiler:

The mysterious male clapped and laughed as he approached her. "Wonderful miss, just a wonderful showing. Hello, you can call me Mr. Wednesday." This strange man was the one who gave her the communicator and after hearing her story invited her to the H.I.V.E. Academy.

His real name Lucas Lamaire King, and apparently he was some kind of King Pin? Whatever that meant, regardless  he was being kind of boring now as he walked through the halls explaining the facilities, class schedules, and finally where Kassie would be staying. A girl's dorm room.

"Umm, I was kinda hoping for my own room? I mean I did give you my jewelry. I thought that would get me some kind of like a luxury style palace sort of deal." Kassie said with an irritated tone while tapping her foot.

Lucas smirked, the classy gentleman seemed to never really get upset or even break the character of being always unbothered, in control, and a step ahead - he was just really cool at all times. "Ms. Kassandra Kent, that was merely your entry fee. You'll find on Earth all college campus require compensation...Which I assure is small price to pay for the excellent service and education you will receive here at our facilities. In fact, usually Ms. Kassandra Kent, we require our students to...prove themselves by commiting an act of sorts for the H.I.V.E. or by retrieving something of value for us. But for you, our superstar, we've decided to forgoe that tedious little task and sincerely thank you for your donation." Lucas opened his hands revealing the stolen jewelry and then closed his hand and reopened it again revealing that the jewels were now gone. "And to deny yourself the ability to strut your stuff in front of your peers? Why Ms. Kassandra Kent, that would be a waste of your talents!" Lucas walked around Kassandra in circles and wagged his finger. "Here at the H.I.V.E. we want to strive to build you into sort of a big sister figure. You've got experience, galactic experience, and so much more to offer. To shut you away into seclusion would be a shame. Who else can show these other girls what it's like to be a queen, no actually, a superstar." The smooth-talker brushed a locke of her hair back as he spoke and looked her in the eye.

Kassie blushed and looked away. "I-I mean I guess, I could show these new girls the ropes to being as fabulous as myself. I mean of c-course if they're all that hopeless, it can't be helped. I'll be their senior." Kassie brushed her hair off her shoulder.

"See, I knew you'd be the perfect fit - beautiful, smart, elegant - you're going to be the pride of the H.I.V.E. Now I do have pressing business to attend to, and must cut this tour of the establishment short. But if you need anything that's your hall pass. Have a good day Ms. Kassandra Kent." The man suddenly teleported out of the room without moving a muscle. Leaving Kassandra speechless. How did he do that? She forgot to use her X-ray vision on him. Was he ever even really there?"


Kassie exited the dorm room after storing her stuff and decided to have a walk around campus, and by walk this meant float for the Kryptonian half-breed. Maybe there was some cute boys she could get into mischief with!

Cute boys? There may be some of those around- one could make the argument that some of the teachers were rather dashing too, as she may have already exprienced moments ago. But in one man's mind, none were more dashing than he- despite the generally shared opinion that he was a weirdo, and people were simply put, uncomfortable around him. This pariah was none other than Fasilli! Who's that you might be wondering? Not the character but YOU? We'll get to that later but back to the present time.

It wouldn't be hard to even find the pointy eared would-be showman, if not for his flashy attire and laugh, it'd be the colorful little minions that seemed to follow him around everywhere- pretty much just acting as yesmen despite the fact no one but Fasilli could undestand them. "So far I don't see anyone worthy enough of my attention, Steve. As I have been told, there have been some notable wielders of magic who I have yet to meet- I DIDN'T COME BACK FROM VACATION JUST TO BE BORED AGAIN!" Fasilli said to no one but Steve in particular, his voice raising in volume. A Steve dressed as a singed firefighter made Steve Sounds in response. "My only consolation is that some of my old favorite frenemies are here- like Suzy! Maybe I should stop by... and see what happens," Fasilli continued, seemingly not paying what Steve had said much mind as he continued to talk to himself. More Steve Sounds.

"Yes yes, I'm well aware of that infernal overrated steak knife! To think this dimension has such horrid things... this is by far THE WORST REALITY I've ever been to!" Fasilli finally responded to Steve, referring to a certain "holy sword" that had the audacity of being able to negate magic- the horror. But that gave him one thing of many to do while he was here. A poofy coated Steve made Steve Sounds.

"I haven't been to the reality where everything is inside of... what in blazes was it called? The Internet? But I withhold judgement until I see it... for now it is second worst reality simply by existing!" Fasilli replied thoughtfully as a Steve eventually caught sight of Kassandra. Almost immediately they all dispersed from Fasilli and scurried over, greeting her with assorted honks and squeaks of excitement.

"Steve! How dare you leave me in the middle of ranting for the fairer gender!" Fasilli noticed immediately that people stopped paying attention to him as he tapped the ground, making two pentacles appear- one around his feet and another by Kassandra. Fasilli would seemingly just instantly move from where he had been standing, over by her. "Hello my dear! You look new- both like you're not going any where with a purpose, and out of the two-bit characters I've come across... I feel like I've seen or heard of someone like you just by looking at you!" Fasilli gave his cane a flashy flourish as The Steves began one by one, running off and coming back with various "gifts" in an attempt to get Kassandra's attention; one upping each other before it descended into a Steve Brawl with honks, squeaks, fire ice and other elements.

Kassandra was approached by very short looking creatures. Now Kassandra was an alien herself and had flown from half a galaxy away just to get here but nonetheless this was what Earthlings would call, just plain weird? "What whimsical creatures you are. I had no idea Earth had such odd little beings," Kassandra twirled upside-down while clapping. Then she was approached by a VERY tall blond man with an odd disposition compared to most Earthlings. He stated she seemed like someone he knew and she crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks. "You are probably thinking of my aunty, little miss perfect, Supergirl."

Kassandra stood erect while still floating in the air and put her hands on her hips. "I am Superstar! And I'm a new student here, you may call me Kassie or Kassandra." She smiled while thinking of Mr. Wednesday's words before of what her role here would be. "Are you like that sizzling man, Mr. Wednesday? Or are you a student here too?" He seemed older but then again Kassandra and Kara were nearly the same age and she was technically her aunt so age was relative. Better safe to ask then assume. She giggled as the Steve's began fighting for her attention. "What glorious fun you all are." Kassandra waived to them.

And The Steves paused their infighting to enthusiastically wave back as a part of the floor seemed to suddenly rise up, launching the Steve pile away as a stockier and slightly larger looking Steve with a miner's helmet poked his head out, blinked up at Kassandra, and laid what looked like a geode at her feet. Fasilli sighed and shook his head before pressing down on the raised floor, forcing the Stocky Steve back down into the ground. "Superstar? How on the nose~ Allow me to introduce myself proper..." Fasilli paused and snapped his fingers to get the Steves back to full attention. Fasilli also tapped the ground a couple times with his cane, making a series of ringed pentacles appearand overlap each other before fanning out all across the surfaces of the sizeable room. "I am the first born of the arch sol magus, Elewar Veteran, and scientific scoundrel extraordinaire! The magical host with the most who makes all others toast and who boasts! The so-called magical menace owed his dues and makes super serious fools lose! But to make a long story short, you may call me The Amazing Fasilli!" As Fasilli made his over the top and budget, flashy and utterly waste of power introduction, the entire room would change into something more... dream-statey with clouds, a glowing stairway with glowing arches decorated in glyphs and symbols that may or may not have had significance... or Steves just scribbled on them. At the end of it all at the top step, Fasilli's name would appear with neon lights, rainbow glowing water, columns of sparks, and of course a colorful nebula all across what was the ceiling! Then after what was probably an awkward silence, everything seemed to return to normal... and revealed Fasilli standing atop a towering stack of Steves! There were more than earlier...

"As it so happens, I am one of the teachers within this hive of scum and villainy- you don't look magically inclined, however," Fasilli tapped his feet with his cane, and having spent more magic in one sitting than he has been able to since coming back as a character, gently floated back down.

"Oh!" Kassandra looked shocked as the room transformed with the magician whims. "Oh my," The Super-Villainess said amused as she landed back on this ringed pentacle he had conjured by her. After his name appeared in spectacular fashion everything converted back to normal and Kass was left looking about confused at what had just happened and how. "No, I afraid I am not. I'm not of this world in fact and where I come from magic and all forms of fun are banned." Kassandra said as if shuttering off something slimey and stepped forward. "Well it is nice to meet you Mr. Fasili. I look forward to what you have to teach me." She floated around him as if observing the gentlemen. He had great power. This time Kassandra actually used her X-Ray vision, she wanted to see what he was made of.

The large Steve Stack would once the boss had settled back on the ground, collapse in on itself with a series of honks, squeaks and other Steve Sounds. Fasilli tilted his head at her explanation, not doing much to dismiss those... uncomfortable vibes with that ever grinning mask on his face. But as far as appearances went- other than the clear pointed ears, he looked no different than anyone else through X-ray vision. Why did this reality have such a strong loathing for magic? It was practically the same every reality he had been to- even his own had turned away from the old ways! "Outside of magic, I also teach how to make a lasting impression, increase your chances of someone outside these walls hiring you for a job, enjoying your work- is something wrong my dear? See something you like? Would you like one?" Fasilli rattled off, watching her out of the corner of his eye before stopping and giving his cape (which looked like a nebula on the inside) a tug open. "Though you are cursed with mundus, you should be able to appreciate the uses of magical items~" Fasilli continued with a chuckle. "Not that you would need it, I'm sure~" Fasilli said as if he was teasing her, Steves in the background seemed to be trying to encourage her to take the offer.

With the corridor back to its normal self, it seemed only logical some foot traffic would pass through eventually. In the moment of silence after the wacky magician offered a magical object to young Superstar, one of the sliding doors did as sliding doors do, sliding open to allow someone to pass through. In this case, probably one of the angriest looking young men Kassandra had ever seen. "Smells like sugar in here..."

As he entered, Fasilli would likely recognize the HIVE lab experiment as Subject Alpha. While not nearly as tall as the luxomancer, Alpha made up for it with musculature. He hid it pretty well under a standard slate gray HIVE campus tee, tucked into black-and-slate colored camo pants, but he was... visibly superhuman. And, as stated before, pretty angry-looking. But maybe that was just his face. His brows were stuck in a permanent furrow, and his jaw was set like stone, hard and uncaring. He struck an imposing figure, to say the least.

Alpha proceeded forward, previously intent on just walking through on the way to somewhere else, though he stopped when he realized that there was a newcomer here. In contrast to the very welcoming Fasilli, Alpha towered over Kassandra, glaring down at her with piercing green eyes. "And just who are you supposed to be?" He noticed the bright red symbol she bore on her outfit, and remembered from some of the knowledge imparted on him by his creators. She was a Kryptonian, then... Perhaps even related to the Big Man himself. That, or she was just a pretender. Either way, Alpha didn't seem all that impressed. "Hmph." He turned to walk away.

As she scanned him thoroughly and he spoke of his other classes, he somehow realized she was using her X-Ray vision and opened up a bizarre and crazy neubla like distortion from within his cape. "I think I'm ok, on all of it. Working, making connections, being liked -- None of that really sounds appealing to me." She spoke in the most condescending way possible. That was until the 6'6 hunk of man meat walked through the door. "Unless of course, you are him." Kassandra bit her finger and floated in front of the rippling man.

"I'm the new gal in town," Kassandra exclaimed proudly. "you can call me---" Before she could finish her statement the big guy turned to leave and she looked shocked. Usually when she was in uniform at the very least, no one ignored her. If anything this S on her chest made people gravitate to her more than she cared for. But this boy was ignoring her? "Hey, it's rude to walk away when people are talking!" She reached out and grabbed his shoulder noticeably more firm than what was probably expected as her eyes lit up red. "Most Tamaranean men aren't this pompous." Kasandra said as she placed a hand on her hip. She hypocritically was using derogatory Earth diction that had been directed at her before.

Fasilli hadn't realized what she was doing in the slightest, his cape just... did that on the inside atleast as he noticed the HIVE Pet Project was sulking his way by- stopping to glare at Kassandra. Fasilli casually snapped his fingers to make a pentacle appear behind him, and a comfy looking chair rose up from it as he sat down to watch the fireworks. It was... more lackluster than he had been hoping. He simply snubbed her, and she got all upset about it- also what was that about him being a walking orange? Atleast Alpha wasn't an annoying orange- though unless it had been changed, he never had any of Fasilli's classes. Which was fine, actually- he seemed super serious and broody all the time. "Yes yes, this strapping young lad is a very diligent worker- but as the earth saying goes, 'all work and no play' is no fun at all~" Fasilli paraphrased the actual saying. A Steve made Steve Sounds. "I know that, but mine is better and more accurate," Fasilli countered simply, wondering if more drama would unfold. If it did, one would expect as a teacher he'd do something about it... but one would be very much mistaken.

"May have recognized the symbol from your relative, and is comparing you to them~" he wasn't at all trying to fan the flames or anything.

That's right, Alpha was ignoring her. Or at least, he was trying his best to. Did a pretty job of it as well, until she remarked about his race. It didn't really matter to him, being Tamaranean- unless someone was comparing him to those over-emotional space tangerines. The sliding door into the next section of the HIVE base stood open for a moment, only for Alpha to press the button for the mechanism a second time, the door sliding closed. "Is that so..."

His footsteps almost sounded heavier than before, as though the Tamaranean were weighed down by his own rage in that moment. He towered over Kassandra yet again, but where there was only judgement in his eyes before, they were now a flaming bright green in fury now. "First mistake was comparing me to them. Second was being so damn annoying about it." His fists were clenched, and seemed to glow with the hints of starbolts.

The kryptonian female smirked and floated up to his eye level, leaned forward, and poked a finger into his chest. “I see, maybe you just haven’t been accustomed to Earth mens customs yet regarding manners towards a lady higher than your station. Well you hulking Troq, I’d be happy to educate you since this is a learning facility.” Her hips jutted out as she bent over to get nearly nose to nose in addition to eye level with Alpha, and her vocal tone was that of pure unadulterated arrogance, as if scolding a child. “Among other things...” she said as her eyes prominently matched his green ones but Kassandra’s were stark crimson red. The word Troq is what aliens referred to Tamaraneans as that viewed their race as inferior. It literally means, “nothing”.

Alpha's gaze was unwavering, just like his body, in this moment. It was incredibly rare for someone to be unafraid of an actual Kryptonian, but there was something in the way that Kassandra behaved that gave him an uncommon confidence. Maybe she just didn't strike him as dangerous. But maybe it went deeper than that. Maybe he was an idiot, or maybe he knew something she didn't.

"Troq. Interesting." It was one of only a few Tamaranean words he knew. One of the little tidbits of his heritage that slipped in when the eggheads filled his brain, so he didn't come out of the tube totally useless. He sighed, closing his still-glowing eyes. "Right. It is a learning facility. First lesson:"

Alpha's hand suddenly shot out, with a speed that seemed to defy his, as she put it, "hulking" size, aiming to clasp tightly around her neck. "Disrespect me again, and you're going six feet under."

Kassandra was quite surprised actually by his firm strength - she had yet to meet a being who could hold her like this other than the Kents themselves and some of their usual rogues. Other than the royal line of Tamaran their species weren't supposed to be quite this fast or strong. Was he royalty? Kassandra gasped for air for a moment as her eyes flickered from red to normal but then shifted back to red again as she smirked and gripped the hand on her throat with her own. She tensed her neck muscles causing Alpha to be unable to suppress her airway any further like he had probably intended. "I wonder about that?" Kassandra wheezed and then began to stiffly remove his hand from around her neck. The struggle between their unworldly strengths was clear as they're palms, foreaqrms, and fingers tensed it was as if each was struggling to close an umbrella on a windy day. Kassandra rubbed her throat with her other hand and slightly grimaced then sternly spoke to the the boy. "Who will end up under who." Kassandra let go of his hand once it was far enough from her throat to no longer snatch her again. "Care to find out?" Noticeably, Kassandra did not call him a troq again. While being very cocky of her abilities the fact she had grimaced at all confirmed that underground she was weaker than on the surface. Bummer.

"My money's on the Orange one," Fasilli remarked to his Steves, now enjoying some popcorn that mysteriously was in his hands. Some Steves seemed to take offense to Orange Juice Man being mean to Kass, where angry Steve Sounds ensued. "No no, mind your own business little ones. You'll just be confettied back home," Fasilli lazily said almost sarcastically. He wasn't really trying THAT hard and this was the first real excitement going on these days.

Steve Sounds.

"A normal person would try to stop this, but they need to carve out the pecking order. If one backs down, the other will either silently or verbally hold it over the other for a good long time," Fasilli replied to the Steve, several Steves still trying to assert their Steve-dominance only to be held back by the others.

"Just so you both are aware, while this is exactly the kind of entertainment I need... actually I'll just see what you do~" Fasilli was about to suggest they take this spat somewhere else- but caught himself and wanted to see if they just decided to wreck the place in their little childish spat. Of course that meant that by proxy, he'd get yelled at but what were they gonna do? Dock his pay? He had an army of Steves to fix the place up if need be- Scottish Steph would love it!